 Welcome!We have seen some progress since the last issue came out.
Welcome to our 6 new members:
Moraima Suarez,
Laura Magpali,
Deborah Sergent,
Jim Claflin,
Susan Kingsbury,
Dawn L. Grillo,
and our new volunteer, Andrea Jones, who has agreed to help with the website as well as our newsletter.
Dear Member,
This issue of our newsletter contains:
- An Appeal – Neil Hall
- Biography Page of those wishing to be elected in October.
- A Call To Action
- Reprint of “Why Do Bowenwork Practitioners Need an Association?”
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An appeal from Neil Hall who has been serving as the Steering Committees President since 2006.
I’ve turned 81 this month (June 2011) and my drive and creativity are not what they used to be. I have served as the Steering Committee’s President since 2006, and I am not able or willing to run for President of AABP. However, our proposed By-Laws do include the Past President on the Executive Committee as support for the incoming president. As long as I am physically and mentally able, I will offer support in whatever ways I can to those of you who are willing to take the lead and make AABP the association that we have dreamed about — one that will make Bowenwork a household name that people will think of whenever they have health problems, aches and pains.
I know that many of you have talents and experience that extend far beyond practicing Bowenwork, in many aspects of business, non-profits, marketing, personnel supervision, research, and much, much more. AABP needs your help, expertise, and dedication in making it a productive, vibrant association.
I am impressed by the background of the (too-few) candidates for office, and I am inspired by their vision for the future. Here are some excerpts from the information they supplied when declaring their willingness to run. Asked about where they see AABP five or ten years from now, they see it as “large enough to have national impact” so that it will have “greatly increased the number of people, including medical professionals, who not only have heard of Bowenwork, but are now familiar with it” and ”more and more states [are] not requiring Bowenworkers to be licensed as massage therapists.” They see AABP as producing “significant medical research studies validating Bowenwork’s effectiveness in health care”and “providing more benefits to its members . . . such as offering health insurance and liability insurance.”
How do we get AABP from here to there? Only with your participation!
So think about how big an impact a vibrant AABP can have on your Bowenwork practice. Consider where you can make a difference in its growth, and take the first steps today.
How often do you hear someone say, “I have never heard of Bowenwork”? It happens to me all the time, inside as well as outside the office. When you hear that, do you not think, “We need more publicity. We need to educate the public and other professional healthcare providers”?
If you think that’s for BAUSA to do, I say, “We can’t expect the instructors to quit teaching us so they can become our PR people and educate our prospective clients. They can’t make a living doing that!” We need many more trained Bowenworkers because there are not enough to cover the entire USA. It is BAUSA’s job to attract the students who will become those trained Bowenworkers. our future colleagues. And it is our job as associated practitioners to expand the horizons of Bowenwork to reach our potential clients.
Please become active in AABP so that it can move forward and serve you and your colleagues.
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| Thanks to the candidates listed below for being willing to serve their fellow Bowenwork practitioners by offering to run for office or a directorship. We are impressed by their achievements, their dedication to Bowenwork, and their vision for the growth of AABP.President: -Vice President: Tom Clarke2nd Vice President: -Secretary: -Treasurer: Lynn CookeDirector: Ginny HahnDirector: Joe SalasDirector: -Director: -Director: -As you can see, we still have no candidates for over half of the open positions. We have therefore extended our election schedule. We urge you to study this newsletter, especially the article reprinted from BAUSA’s June newsletter (Why Do Bowenwork Practitinoers Need an Association) and the appeal by Neil Hall, to gain a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges we’re facing.
We hope you will be motivated to volunteer or nominate someone for one of the remaining positions so we can finalize our election. For details about the responsibilities of each of the positions, please visit Roles. As you read, please evaluate your own capabilities and those of your fellow practitioners, and volunteer someone, either yourself or a colleague.
Candidate Biographies
| Elected position |
1st Vice President |
| Nominee’s full name |
Tom Clarke |
| City and State |
Reedsport, Oregon |
| Person who nominated you |
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| Number of years in Bowenwork practice |
8 Years 100% Bowenwork |
| Experience relevant to the skills required by the position you seek |
I have served as 1st VP since our first 3 meetings at Yale in 2006 and for months before that I wrote documents for our new organization to be re-worked, edited, and hopefully improved our initial work an its’ followup since. |
| The main strengths that you have to offer to AABP |
I have and hope to be a contributor to Bowenwork in the US in ways relevant to our growth and to maintain the high quality of our work and to maintain our high standard of ethics. |
| Your vision for AABP five or 10 years from now |
I have noted (from December issues of Bowen Hands) that in the last two years there has been a very large growth in the number of practitioners in the US as well as Austria, Germany, the UK and even Australia. I see this continuing to grow. I also see more and more states not requiring Bowenworkers to be licensed as massage therapists. I also see many new Instructors which seems to be the way in which the increased population of Bowen therapist has had such a growth spurt in the last few years. |
| Anything else you’d like to say? |
With the rapid increase of practitioners I see a need to somehow retain the family feeling that we have enjoyed for so long and I also see a need to police our own to maintain our high standards we have had. If we do not, I fear that we will have the Governments wanting to control us – and of course, they have no idea what it is that we do. |
| Elected position |
Board of Directors |
| Nominee’s full name |
Joe Salas |
| City and State |
San Jose, California |
| Person who nominated you |
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| Number of years in Bowenwork practice |
3 years |
| Experience relevant to the skills required by the position you seek |
Bachelor of Science degree in technology management from University of San Francisco.Master of Science degree in management from Pepperdine University.Business professional course two years private training. |
| The main strengths that you have to offer to AABP |
Holistic training:Reiki level IIIEFT TappingMartial arts training at KO Karate with a Brown belt first-degree.I have extensive management experience and feel that I can use this to the benefit of AABP as a director. |
| Your vision for AABP five or 10 years from now |
That all Bowenworkers might become members of AABP.That every state’s legislature will have accepted Bowenwork as an individual modality. |
| Anything else you’d like to say? |
We need to improve communications so that all Bowenworkers are aware of AABP and its potential. |
| Elected position |
Board of Directors |
| Nominee’s full name |
Virginia (Ginny) Hahn |
| City and State |
Georgetown, Texas |
| Name and email address of the person who has nominated you, if you are not nominating yourself |
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| Number of years in Bowenwork practice |
6 years |
| Experience relevant to the skills required by the position you seek |
Current president – Texas Reflexology AssociationPast Board Member – Massachusetts Association of ReflexologyPast President – Board of Directors, YWCA, Nashua, NHPast Mediator – New Hampshire Unemployment Compensation Dept.Formerly - Vice President for Human Resources, Kingston Warren Corp. |
| The main strengths that you have to offer to AABP |
Commitment, focus, can see both big picture and finite detailsStrong communications skillsSemi-retired – have time and interest |
| Your vision for AABP five or 10 years from now |
1. See AABP large enough to have national impact2. Envision AABP behind significant medical research studies validating Bowenwork’s effectiveness in health care arena |
| Anything else you’d like to say? |
Volunteer with soldiers and with hospice |
| Elected position |
Treasurer |
| Nominee’s full name |
Lynn Cooke |
| City and State |
Rochester, NY |
| Name and email address of the person who has nominated you, if you are not nominating yourself |
N/A |
| Number of years in Bowenwork practice |
7 years |
| Experience relevant to the skills required by the position you seek |
I have many years of experience relevant to the skills required to a treasurer. I have maintained the books for both of my businesses since 2003. I was a project manager for a couple of years and have 25 years of computer programming experience. Both of these positions require skills I feel are important to being a treasurer – attention to detail and an ability to see the whole picture, to name a few. For the past 9 years I have been responsible for the reservations, income, membership information and financial reporting for a fund-raising banquet of 200+ plus people for the local chapter of a national organization. |
| The main strengths that you have to offer to AABP |
I think my strong belief in Bowenwork and the benefits it can provide to so many people, is one of the most important qualities I have to offer AABP. I have 25 years of experience being an active member of different teams and committees. My entire adult working life has been spent working on teams – both teams consisting mostly of customers for whom I am writing and implementing software applications, and teams of co-workers. I have also participated on committees for various organizations outside of work. |
| Your vision for AABP five or 10 years from now |
My vision for AABP five years from now is for it to have its membership greatly increased and see it providing more benefits to its members – benefits such as offering health insurance and liability insurance. In addition, I would like to see it have 2-3 major research studies either completed or underway, and I would like it to have greatly increased the number of people, including medical professionals, who not only have heard of Bowenwork, but are now familiar with it. |
| Anything else you’d like to say? |
I feel that with the active participation of its members, the AABP will benefit its members, and it will benefit the public at large, by sharing Bowenwork with them. I look forward to sharing Bowenwork with as many people as possible. |
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A CALL TO ACTION
For many of us, we have had a period of day dreaming about a Bowenwork Association here in the USA. We have already taken action and accomplished a great deal! Don’t be discouraged about how much we have yet to do. Here is an outline of the steps we must now take.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION.
We have a base, a foundation. We now need to build the framework and make it a viable Association. Now is the time to pick up the ball and run with it.
WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?
· We need more Practitioners and Students to step up and become members of AABP so we have a good solid base of support and qualified leaders.
· Qualified leaders that will step forward and volunteer to serve as an official, board member, committee chair or committee member.
· We have to finalize our By-Laws, we will be sending out a preliminary set to members for their perusal and any suggested changes so these will be ready to vote on at the AGM meeting in October.
· We need to set up committee chairs and members so they can meet and plan face to face at the AGM.
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| Why Do Bowenwork Practitioners Need an Association?Reprinted with permission from the June 2011 newsletter of Bowenwork Academy US.Several people have asked us recently why we keep urging you to join AABP (the American Association of Bowenwork Practitioners) when BAUSA already supports students and practitioners in so many ways. Here are our main reasons:BAUSA is an educational institution, a school, focused primarily on training and maintaining high professional standards for its students.AABP is a professional association whose members are our graduates and alumni (plus some current students who are en route to becoming practitioners). In every professional field, graduates (e.g., of medical schools, law schools, engineering schools, music conservatories, film schools) join professional associations for services not provided by their training institutions. Consider the difference between Harvard Medical School and the AMA, or, in the field of bodywork, Boulder School of Massage Therapy and the AMTA.BAUSA currently has only twelve instructors. (A few Teaching Assistants and Teaching Assistant Candidates are in the pipeline, mentored by the current instructors. The rate of increase is very slow.) With your participation, AABP can have hundreds of members in its first year, who will be able to work together to do things that BAUSA does not have the resources to do.BAUSA‘s instructors, in addition to maintaining a private practice and teaching Bowenwork classes (which often requires extensive travel), are also required to work on volunteer committees. Most of the BAUSA committees focus on improving the effectiveness of our teaching (Instructor Training, Continuing Education, Policy & Procedures). Some instructors volunteer for additional tasks, e.g., developing training aids for students, working toward gaining recognition of Bowenwork classes by professional accreditation groups such as NCBTMB, state boards of Registered Nursing and Naturopathic Medicine, and (see related article) AOTA.AABP‘s members, unencumbered by such training responsibilities, are free to focus on cooperative marketing, gaining media coverage for Bowenwork practitioners, sponsoring and participating in collaborative research, convincing state legislatures to exempt Bowenwork from massage regulations, obtaining reduced group liability insurance and other benefits. As membership grows, AABP will be able to negotiate benefits for you that BAUSA would not be able to, benefits that are also more appropriate for a professional association than for a school.BAUSA has performed some of these functions in the past. A few individual instructors have written articles, the publication of which increased awareness of Bowenwork. And individual instructors assisted local groups (See related article in this issue) in obtaining exemption from massage laws. But BAUSA has nowhere near as much person-power as AABP will once fully in gear. (We will, of course continue to support such efforts.)There are so many more of you than of us!AABP, your practitioners association, cannot take over and do its work until it begins operation. That is what the current AABP election process and upcoming AGM day are all about — setting the foundation so AABP can grow and provide services for you and your colleagues. As a brand new association that depends entirely on volunteers for all functions, AABP will have to start small and grow from that point. Some liken the development of a new organization to birthing and raising a child. Neither process is easy, yet both are worthwhile because of the results.Therefore we urge you to visit the AABP website, http://www.BowenworkAmerica.com, to join the organization if you haven’t already, and volunteer where you see your skills and interests fitting the best. Consider going to Las Vegas for the AGM on October 18, 2011. The AABP’s constitution and by-laws will be adopted there, and face-to-face interaction with many of your peers will give the organization a real boost. (Continuing education classes are scheduled for the two days prior.)
We in BAUSA believe that having an independent practitioners association is absolutely necessary to the healthy growth of Bowenwork in the US.
We wish you the best in your Bowenwork endeavors. |
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